Odds and Ends: Utley, Draft Recap, Burrell

-We await word on Chase Utley’s availability for tonight’s game against the Giants. Utley reportedly flew back to Philadelphia following last night’s rehab doubleheader with the Clearwater Threshers. The information from the Phillies is usually made available around 2:30 p.m. if there is a statement from the team.

-Last night, the Phillies locked up some future hopefuls during draft deadline day. The three players signed yesterday were pitchers Kevin Walter (20th rd), Jonathan Musser (21st), and outfielder Brian Pointer (28th). Between the three, the Phillies spent about $1 million total on bonuses. They attempted to lock in right-hander Scott Frazier, a fifth-round selection, but he has decided to attend Pepperdine University. Fraizer wanted a bonus in the $1 million range.

According to Phuture Phillies, the difference between Frazier and the three players combined is negligible. It’s about quality of the quantity over the one higher blue-chip prospect.

Walter throws 88-92 right now, but has a decent array of secondary pitches, which for a high schooler is quite advanced. He’s also 6-6, 220 pounds. Musser comes from high school in Iowa. He tosses his FB about 91-93 according to reports and suffered a shoulder injury which was not related to baseball, but is back to throwing hard. Pointer is a high school centerfielder from Nevada who has great speed and OK power.

-Welcome home, Pat Burrell! Who’s excited to see the former Philly playboy/left fielder roam the outfield once again? He’s now playing for one of the enemies in San Francisco, but has recently enjoyed a rejuvenation following his release from Tampa Bay. Burrell is hitting .285 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI in 56 game with the Giants. His .905 OPS would stand as the second best of his whole career if the season ended today. That’s saying something for a guy who was nearly on the street a few months ago after hitting .202 with the Rays to begin the year.

So, welcome him with open arms, but just wait ’til the game is over, will ya?

Just to look at that face and body..Yummy.. Ok sorry girlie moment.. I wish he would come back & play here..He may have not be the best outfielder But he was a team player & very supportive of his team.. Miss ya Pat & Elvis. Would love to see you back in Phillies red !!!

Pat is one the main reasons while we choose to go to tonight’s game. It will be nice to see him at CBP again. With Oswalt pitching and possibly Utley getting in some playing time, it should be great night at the ball park. Can’t wait!

2 out of 3 sounds good to me… I like the match ups tonight and Thursday. Cheeseburger is due but Cain is pretty good. We’ve gotta work some pitch counts and get to their bullpen early starting tonight… we can get to Zito. He was really good early on but has settled in a little bit and the law of averages is catching up to him. He’s been giving up more hits and more home runs lately. If he’s wild, they have to let him be wild (don’t swing at balls out of the zone). Since July, he hasn’t pitched many games against good teams… COL, MIL, NYM, LAD (x2), FLA, ATL, CHI… he did strike out 10 against the Braves but he also gave up 2 HR. In our park, HR pitchers don’t do so well…

I’m thinking that Jayson Werth goes 4-4 tonight with a handful of RBI.

My favorite Pat Burrell story comes from the old Korman Suites he used to live in in Rittenhouse. I used to work summers at a moving company and we moved someone into the building. The doorman talked about all the Phillies who lived there and told us (paraphrasing):

“Burrell always up in here with white women, black women, puerto rican, it dont matter. It’s a different one every night. I take him up the back elevator so no one sees him…”

…When Aaron Rowand hit that bomb in the 10th inning two years ago, as a Giant, I was HATING on the guy… But then Pat saved us in one of the most dramatic comebacks I’ve seen in person. 🙂 Now, I don’t want to hate Pat the Bat for doing what Rowand did to us this time around… though in the end it was all worth it.

Oswalt/Zito, Cheeseburger/Cain, Hamels/Sanchez… 2 out of 3 sounds about right to me.

Love T/Th match ups but W is not favorable… Cheeseburger is due but he has to be pretty good. I think that we’ve gotta work some counts and get to their pen early… like, tonight. We can shell Zito- he was really good early on but the law of averages is starting to catch up with him. He’s been giving up more hits and more HR lately and hasn’t exactly played stellar competition since July. He’s striking guys out at a pretty good clip but HR pitchers in our park are treated with early exits and crooked numbers… set the tone tonight. I’m thinking Werth goes 4-4 with a handful of RBI… enough of this RISP talk.

The ladies can’t wait to see Pat the Bat’s backside in left field… he will deservedly receive a nice ovation. Great guy but hopefully, we can send him back to San Fran with a few losses.

Dodgers gave away a 9th inning lead to the Bravos and Joe Torre needs to be fired yesterday… he thinks too much and tries to be too cute. In NY, it was easy… hand the ball to Mo in the 9th or late in the 8th if there was a major problem. He is completely butchering the bullpen in LA and ruining the confidence of every reliever he’s got… and they’re all good ones, in my opinion. Kuo has been an excellent set up man this season… so what does Joe do? He moves him to closer and sends him out there for a 6 out save in only his second relief appearance as a closer. We killed Broxton… Troncoso is back in the minors, they traded away James McDonald, Belisario is a mess. Next up- Kenley Jansen. Wonder how they’ll screw that one up.

OCP, I’ve just about given up on Cheeseburger this year. Every game he seems to do better, he then digresses. First inning is almost a lock, 2 or 3 runs spotted to the opposition – maybe that’s just at home? He is starting to piss me off.

Welcome back Pat Burrell. Glad to see you are doing well for the Giants. However, I hope you strike out every time up against the Phightins. And, more importantly, welcome back Chase and Ryan, if indeed you are going to be back tonight. I hope you each homer twice. Important series, as usual. They are ALL important now. The best baseball time of the year is upon us.

I just hope to see one “Pat”ented Burrell scoot (2-2 count, pitch is on the inside part of the plate and Burrell shimmies back to avoid a ball that is nowhere near his midsection)… for all times sake, Pat?

Cheeseburger is pissing everyone off… he has one really bad inning per game (usually it’s the first… early on it was the later innings, 6th or 7th). He gets in a groove in the middle innings but that one inning where he implodes is always in the back of your mind. It was suggested that he warm up a little more… I don’t know what to do with him. His ERA right now is the lowest that it has been since May… but we’re all waiting for a performance that we can feel really good about. If he can’t pull one out of his hat, that’s problematic.

There are no replacements… nothing on the farm at this point unless you wanna give Drew Carpenter or Brandon Duckworth a shot (not advisable under any circumstance, in my opinion). People have called for Jose Contreras but I’m not sure they could stretch him out in time (and feel good about it).

Just throw Pat that low and outside slider,(from a righthander),and you’ll see that familiar wave three times as he pulls his shoulder out.Then he’ll shake his head as he walks back to the dugout.
Thats how I would like it to go tonight.

No Chuck nothing on farm system sticks out worthy of a try at this point. Marshmallow Joe has awful 1st innings best thing he can do is keep it under 2 runs then he goes Staypuff after 6innings of work….

Thanks for the article OCP – checking the power rankings, the Padres are ranked 2nd overall. Crazy – aside from Gonzales, what offense do they really have? Their 1-4 starters have all won over 10 games already but, nobody looks to be that scary.

We got this guys. Once again, the only team in the NL that gives me any concern is the team that the Phils love to beat up on, the Cardinals.

I assume that since Dobbs was sent down that means that Gload is OK to play first against righties. Very good news until Howard returns. Then the kid goes down but he will be back in September.

Just got our post-season ticket offer. We have partial season plan and this year they are not guaranteeing anything (too many partial and full season ticket plans). I got 4th home game of NLCS (problem is that we will probably not have home advantage so there will be no 4th home game). I hear those who just got partial season tickets this year were not given WS tickets.

Wonder if Utley plays some first base until Howard gets back… if Gload is able to play, that’s optimal but if he’s not, Utley at 1b, Valdez at 2nd and Rollins at SS sounds good to me (better than Dobbs, that’s for sure).

I got my Post season invoice too – wow…
I went to one game in 07, every game in 08 and 1 NLCS, 1 WS game in 09 – I’m not sure what I’m going to do this year yet. I sold the tickets to my friends at face value – and missed the best game of the year last year, the JRoll walk off vs the Dodgers – I’d love to sell the tickets at a profit but I’m a woos…

Bruce – You’re going to be one of those whining the loudest if Werth goes. Burrell wishes he had 1/2 of Werth’s innate talent. Hopefully we won’t lose him b/c it so obviously will take more than 1 player to replace his defense & production.

In any case, I’m probably the only person who was never a Burrell fan. All the snickering stories about the many minions of chicks did nothing to help that. I don’t wish him ill. I just never cared and never thought he was worth all the discussion.

Hey, he was always very unapologetic about who he was and there’s something to be admired and respected about that. I can’t judge, I’m no angel. I’m sure he’s a lot of fun but he always seemed to be one of those guys who got by everything in life with the very least, most minor effort and – oh yeah – a smug-assed smirk.

Nice thought Chuck but I doubt theyd give utley a new position to go along with his coming off the DL.
I do see down the line Utley could be a firstbaseman when he gets older and his defense declines. The guy is the perfect baseball player he will play a long time.

Phan not really interested in gossip and peoples personal lives.
I have my own life and my own scandles to worry about.
Ill quickly forget this. Just how I am. But I can tell you the lineup for the 27 yankees and if every batter batted R or L.

Andrew – I said before that I didn’t care about Burrell & couldn’t understand why he caused so much discussion. Couldn’t care less about the gossip, however, with Burrell there was no way to not hear it. I suspect the reason people talked so much is that old saying: guys wanted to be him & girls wanted him. That’s a gross generalization but it might hold in his case.

I dont live in philly never have. Was in newark del till age 12 then moved to Maryland.
So I never heard and I never listed to Wheeler or Ashburn etc etc.
Heard Harry the last few years when I had the baseball package and he was doing games.

Phillies continue to be among the stingiest of all organizations when it comes to drafting players. Yeah, I know they’ve been able to get a few nice bargains, but they are usually raw and take a lot of years to develop. The clock is ticking, and we need to look for, AND DRAFT, some guys that are closer to being Major League ready.